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Welcome to our Miami-Illinois alphabet page! The following charts show the pronunciation for the Miami-Illinois orthography we have used on our site, as well as some alternate spellings that you may find in other books and websites. You may also like to visit our Algonkian homepage to see how Miami-Illinois relates to other languages from the Algonkian family.
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Miami-Illinois pronunciation: |
a | a | Like the a in father. | |
aa | a, â | a | Like the a in father, only held longer. |
e | e | Like the a in gate. | |
ee | e, ê | e | Like the a in gate, only held longer. |
i | i | Like the ee in peek. | |
ii | i, î | i | Like the ee in peek, only held longer. |
o | o | Like the o in note. | |
oo | o, ô, 8 | o | Like the o in note, only held longer. |
Character We Use: |
Sometimes Also Used: |
IPA symbol: | Miami-Illinois pronunciation: |
c | ch, č, tch, tj | t | Like ch in chair. |
h | h | Like h in English hay. | |
k | g, c | k | Like the soft k in skate. |
m | m | Like m in English moon. | |
n | n | Like n in English night. | |
p | b | p | Like the soft p in spill. |
s | th | s ~ θ | Like s in sing. Some Miami speakers pronounced this sound like the th in thing instead. |
sh | š, ch |   | Like sh in shy. |
t | d | t | Like the soft t in star. |
w | 8 | w | Like w in English way. |
y | ï | j | Like y in English yes. |
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